Remembering 9/11

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

I was living in Colorado at the time, and had just gotten up to get ready for work. Turned on the TV to start the day, and saw it. Stunned and shocked I just sat down. I was also in the midst of a huge personal tragedy and all of that week just blurs, If there was one week I could simply erase from time it would be that one. Eventually I made it to work, where the owner set up the main conference room as a prayer/meditation room. People were in there constantly through the day, with tv's and news reports heard in every office and cubicle.

The most positive thing I remember, was waiting in an hour and half line of people in colorado springs, all of us waiting at a red cross donation center, giving a few dollars, or whatever. The red cross had set up certain collection points and lines stretched out with US citizens waiting to help people they had never seen, never knew. Truly awesome emotional outpouring and support. I am tearing up even as I remember that time.

I had never been to NYC beforehand so the magnitude of it never really struck me until I went and saw the crater in January of 2007. Looking up at the surrounding buildings and knowing that the WTC was much larger than most. Looking down from the 1st observation deck on the Empire State Building and realizing there were another 20 or so floors on the WTC from the point in which I stood (something really cool happened though, it was snowing and the snow at that point was actually coming upwards).

What REALLY hit me was right in that area are the Jersey trains. At the time they had an exhibit of drawings done by children that had lost parents, grandparents, and other family in the tragedy. I never grew up with my father and never said "I miss you Daddy" as many times as I saw written on the pictures that day. There were so many that had pictures of footballs, baseballs, etc and how they missed going to the Giants, Jets, Yankees, Mets etc games with their dads and uncles. That's really when there was a connection as it still hadn't fully hit me, I know that people die and I know that raw material collapsed. Without a real tie to it I hadn't really realized the emotional aspect. I actually had to stop typing this for a bit because my eyes were so full of tears. It was also on that day that I realized that sports are just a game, though I treat them as a lifestyle still. When the minds of the innocent are so dearly affected not much else matters anymore.